Today, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk issued - what can be seen as a potential threat - an indirect warning to Ukraine saying the entire front line would collapse if I turned the Starlink connectivity off.
In his post a few hours ago, he said, "I literally challenged Putin to one on one physical combat over Ukraine and my Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off. What I am sickened by is years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose. Anyone who really cares, really thinks and really understands wants the meat grinder to stop." And, he went on to close his comment saying "PEACE NOW".
Earlier in the day, US celebrity entrepreneur Elon Musk, who heads the US Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), said the conflict in Ukraine will stop immediately if the US imposes sanctions against Ukrainian oligarchs. He posted saying, "Place sanctions on the top 10 Ukrainian oligarchs, especially the ones with mansions in Monaco, and this will stop immediately. That is the key to the puzzle."
A week ago, news agency Reuters ran a story saying Elon Musk was planning to cut off Ukraine's access to Starlink. Reuters cited three sources familiar with the matter, who said that Ukraine's access to the critical satellite Internet service was brought up after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned down an initial proposal from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Elon then denied the report categorically saying, "This is false". He said, "Reuters is lying. They are second only to AP (Associated Propaganda) as legacy news liars."
Four days ago, on March 5, the U.S. pulled the plug on intelligence-sharing with Kyiv, a move confirmed by CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Fox News. For Ukraine, fighting Russia’s invasion since 2022, this isn’t just a diplomatic slap, particularly because for the last three years, U.S. intelligence has been Ukraine’s lifeline. It guided HIMARS rockets to shred Russian supply lines, helped sink the Moskva warship, and let Kyiv hit targets deep inside occupied territory with American-supplied ATACMS missiles.
It’s a blindfold in a war where seeing the enemy is everything.